Chapter 18 The Xu Family's Daughter is Here
As the morning mist wrapped in dew flowed over the windowsill, Xu Yao counted the seventeenth ant crawling through the cracks in the blue brick wall.
The salt frost on the tips of the mint leaves melted into water droplets at dawn, rolling down the window sill and onto the floral pillowcase that she had wrinkled last night.
When the cock crowed for the third time, the sound of a carrying pole hitting the edge of the well could be heard outside. Aunt Zhang's loud voice startled the sparrows that had landed on the jujube tree and said, "Is Miss Yao awake yet?
The sunshine in the village committee does not wait for lazy people! “
Xu Yao faced the bronze mirror and tucked her hair into a red hairband, her fingertips rubbing across her lips that were dyed red by wild rose juice.
The mirror suddenly reflected a locust tree branch slanting over the wall, and the dewdrops happened to fall and shatter on the jujube wood door bolt that Xue Han had reinforced last night.
When she touched the broken jade in the red silk bag, the crisp sound of kettles colliding came from the wall of the next courtyard, like the sound of camel bells breaking through the sand in the Gobi Desert.
The old locust tree under the village committee was already crowded with people.
Sun's mother stood by the millstone with her hands on her hips, her face flushed as red as liver, and she was still chewing some corn stubble porridge.
The third sister was huddled at the back of the crowd, wrapped in a gray smock, with a wilted gardenia pinned in her hair and traces of last night’s tears still lingering in the corners of her eyes.
"The Xu family's daughter is here!"
Li Ersao's blue headscarf stood out among the crowd.
The crowd automatically made way for each other, and Xu Yao saw the village chief using an enamel pot to iron out the creases on the marriage report.
Sun Zhiqiang stood in the shade of the elm tree, his Liberation shoes rubbing against the locust flowers on the ground. When he heard the noise and looked up, his Adam's apple slid abruptly twice - Xu Yao had taken out the moon-white shirt that had been hidden in the bottom of the box today, and pinned to the collar was a copper button that had fallen off when Xue Han helped fix the door bolt the day before.
The village chief's cough was like a thunderbolt in a drought, exploding above the crowd's heads: "After investigation, it was confirmed that Comrade Sun Zhiqiang concealed his family debts and allowed his relatives to embezzle Comrade Xu Yao's property. The application for divorce is now approved."
The fingers he used to open the marriage report were stained with ink. The corners of the word "Xu" that were wrinkled by the word "Sun" rustled in the morning breeze like the remnants of flags from two armies facing each other.
Xu's mother suddenly groped her way to the front, the silver bracelet on her wrist jingling against the bamboo stick: "Excuse me...Excuse me, who can read it for me?"
The old man's empty eye sockets turned towards the source of the sound, and his skinny fingers happened to point to the place where Sun's mother hid the IOU.
The third sister suddenly started coughing violently, and Gardenia fell into the dust and was crushed into mud by Sun Zhiqiang's army green rubber shoes.
"Wait a minute!"
Xu Yao's voice cut through the noise.
She untied her hair string and shook out the red silk bag. The broken jade reflected a colorful halo in the morning sun. "Auntie Sun, you said this was the betrothal gift my father received, but the cracks were clearly caused by falling last month."
His fingertips stroked the broken edge of the jade ring, and the thorns of the newly-growth rose yesterday left a crescent-shaped red mark on his palm. "Accountant Wang from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative can testify that this was originally a modified bracelet that my mother brought as a dowry."
The crowd was buzzing with excitement.
Aunt Zhang suddenly slapped her thigh and shouted, "I saw the third girl sneaking into the pawnshop last time!"
Sun's mother's spit sprayed on Li Ersao's blue headscarf: "Bullshit!"
However, Sun Zhiqiang grabbed his arm with a sullen face, and the tip of the pen in his military uniform pocket pierced the fabric, revealing half of the IOU.
Xue Han appeared on the west side of the locust tree at some point, with a military water bottle hanging around his waist, and salt frost condensed into tiny crystals at the mouth of the bottle.
Xu Yao caught a glimpse of fresh sawdust on his cuffs and suddenly remembered that when the tiles creaked last night, a branch of jujube wood fell at the foot of his courtyard wall.
“Return the property to its original owner.”
When the village chief handed over the marriage report, Xu Yao smelled a faint mint scent - a few crushed mint leaves were hidden in the fresh creases on the corners of the paper.
The third sister's cloth shoes were quietly moving back, and the uppers were still stained with wild rose petals from the wall at the base of Xu Yao's house.
When Xu Yao wrapped the broken jade pieces back into the red silk, her fingertips touched a piece of stiff paper.
Just at this moment, the morning breeze lifted the hem of the third sister's blouse, revealing half of a faded red cloth bag - the stitching was clearly the Pisces pattern that Xu's mother was best at when she was young.
Xu Yao's fingers that were holding the red silk bag suddenly tightened. The wild rose petals on the edge of her third sister's cloth shoes glowed rouge in the morning light.
She suddenly took a step forward, and the tip of her shoe happened to step on the toe of the gray cloth shoe of her third sister who was about to retreat.
"The double fish pattern on Third Sister's bag was made from the silver bracelet my mother brought as a dowry, right?" Xu Yao's voice was like well water flowing over the bluestone slabs. "The grain station lost 50 kilograms of grain coupons last month. How many feet of red cloth do you have left after exchanging them for money?"
The third sister stumbled into the old locust tree, and the mottled shadow of the tree fell on her pale face.
Sun's mother suddenly pounced over like a hen with its feathers standing on end, but her way was blocked by the military water bottle that Xue Han inserted horizontally.
The copper pot lid reflected a cold light in the sunlight, reflecting the half-broken pawn ticket that had slipped out of Third Sister's sleeve.
"I pawned the bracelet on October 7, which happened to be the day when the grain station audited the accounts."
When Xu Yao picked up the pawn ticket, her fingertips brushed against the thick calluses on the back of Xue Han's hand.
She smelled the pine scent on his collar, mixed with the smell of sawdust left from repairing the door latch last night. "Didn't Third Sister say that she was helping the Sun family take care of the baby with a high fever that day? Why did you go to the pawnshop in the south of the city?"
The crowd suddenly burst into Li Ersao's sharp laughter: "I said I saw a gray mouse-like shadow running towards the south of the city that day!"
Aunt Zhang slapped her knees and shouted, "How dare you steal the bracelet of the Xu family's daughter and frame the comrades at the grain station!"
The third sister's gardenia had long been crushed into mud, and the uppers of her gray cloth shoes were cracked, revealing the red socks with patches sewn on them.
Sun Zhiqiang suddenly shouted loudly, and the pen in his military uniform pocket completely pierced through the fabric, and half of the IOU swirled and fell at Xu Yao's feet.
When Xue Han bent down to pick it up, the back of his neck was glazed with a layer of golden sunlight.
"The fingerprints on this IOU..."
Xu Yao held the paper up to the morning sun, and the cinnabar ink produced a broken flower. "There's a gap in the middle of Third Sister's thumbprint. Was it caused by the sickle during last year's autumn harvest?"
The crowd was buzzing with excitement.
A few half-grown children suddenly emerged from the crowd, holding up muddy glass marbles and shouting, "Yesterday at noon, I saw Aunt San throwing broken porcelain pieces at the base of Xu's wall!"
The silver bracelet on Xu Yao's wrist suddenly jingled - it was the exact location where Xue Han had blocked the broken tile for her when he was reinforcing the door bolt last night.
The third sister suddenly covered her face and ran to the village entrance. Her gray smock was blown up by the wind, making her look like a moth with a broken wing.
Sun's mother's scolding followed her staggering back: "Unlucky star! I should have let you follow your short-lived man..."
Before he could finish his words, Sun Zhiqiang dragged him away with a sullen face. The back of his military uniform was covered with crushed locust petals.
Xue Han's copper buttons felt slightly hot against Xu Yao's collar.
When she turned around, she bumped into the spring water rippling in his eyes, and the morning light like broken gold floated in the ink-black water.
The man's rough fingertips brushed across the red string in her hair and plucked off half a mint leaf, with night dew still condensed in the veins.
"The girl from the Xu family is so lucky!"
Mrs. Li Er suddenly clapped her hands and laughed, her blue headscarf fluttering in the wind.
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